Textile recycling for old unwearable clothes??

Question

I have a few bags of old, mostly 100% cotton clothes that are either torn or permanently stained, so can't be worn. I hate to throw them in the trash and have them in a landfill, and am not about to sew and turn them into a quilt or other "craft".

I know that textile recycling exists for industry, but anyplace that will take old unwearable clothes from individuals? Either a place to recycle them or place that could reuse them...Thanks.

Answer 1

In Illinois/ Wisconsin, there are red metal bins as big as an outdoor ice machine at some gas stations / parking lots. These big red collection boxes collect old clothing and shoes to be recycled. I don't know the exact usage once they're recycled, but I do know that they want the clothing to be CLEAN -but, stained is ok. I figure any use is better than the trash!

Answer 2

I found a contact on the buying end; they might be able to tell you who collects in your area.  

In Boston / Cambridge, there used to be "New England Textile Waste" a.k.a. "rags."  They also were open on Saturday mornings, and sold the old clothes and rags (from huge piles on the floor) for $1 / lb.

Answer 3

What a noble cause.  

I hope the sites listed below will provide an answer to your interest.  I know that you can donate clothes to the Salvation Army and so on and they sort and forward the donations to other

resources they feel will benefit from the donation,

I hope you find the right place for your items.

Answer 4

Wow, what a great idea to use the old clothes for crafts--like quilts and such!

When I bag up my clothes, I take them to a clothing bin  --you know the ones that says clothes and shoes. They are all over the place.   I do that to keep the clutter down in the house instead of keeping bags of clothes and shoes in my home.

Answer 5

our local refuse centre takes clothing, they sort it .first clothing for resale then3 rd world, then industrial rags, and all thats no good to industrial use, remanufacturing, eg  shredded and used for material stuffing etc.

Answer 6

There are a lot of crafters out there who would like to have your old clothes!

Freecycle.org is devoted to keeping as much as possible out of the landfills.  Each community has their own site.with new postings daily.  Everything listed is offered for free and there's no cost to post your stuff.      

Also, Craigslist.com has a great 'free' feature for people who want to give away stuff.  Again, doesn't cost anything to post.

note:  when I use these sites I don't list my phone number (they can email me if they're interested) but I do put the area the stuff is located in.  Let's people know right away if it's worth the bother to go get the stuff.

Answer 7

What we do is cut the clothes into squares and use them as rags to wash the car, use to wipe hands when doing sutomotive work, dust with, clean with, ect. They can be used over and over and can be hung dry so that no dryer is used.